


It's Darkest Before Dawn

by Jala



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Arthur comes back, Don't Examine This Too Closely, Ficlet, Inspired by Music, M/M, Not Beta Read, Past Gwen/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Post-Apocalypse, Post-Avalon, Post-Canon, could be platonic or romantic you choose, post-apocalypse but not clearly mentionned?, this is a mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 06:55:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21797662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jala/pseuds/Jala
Summary: Arthur is coming back when Albion's needs is greatest.What will he find?
Relationships: Merlin & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 60





	It's Darkest Before Dawn

**Author's Note:**

> Don't be too harsh, I wrote this in a rush because I heard a song! It's not the greatest but oh well
> 
> enjoy!

Arthur has been away for so long. He could feel it in the air around him. Like it welcomed a long-lost friend.

The wind in his hair kept putting it in his face, but he couldn’t be bothered to swat it. He breathed deeply and his blue eyes were roaming around him, taking it all in again.

He was _home_. For the first time in centuries. He couldn’t help but close his eyes and smile.

He could see Avalon’s lake, the green forests around it, the fresh air and the birds that still sung as if nothing of importance just happened.

But the Once and Future King was brought back to life. He didn’t know why or for what purpose, but he could start by doing one thing: going home, to Camelot.

He started his journey towards it, leaving the lake behind him. He knew things would’ve changed, but he couldn’t care about it right now. He just wanted to enjoy coming back to his land, to the living.

At first, he didn’t see much that changed from when he was king of Camelot: greenery surrounded him still, birds flew above him, it was peaceful.

Although, when he looked closer, he could see faint traces of time come and gone; remnants of buildings, broken objects he didn’t know the name of, but could only be man-made (_or magic-made, who knows what happened after his death?_)

As he left the forest, he saw what millennia would do to a place like Camelot.

There were broken things everywhere (things he didn’t have a name for, but looked like some sort of transportation? It had wheels, it was a safe bet), houses with half of their walls destroyed, as if some explosions happened near them.

It was also eyrie: not a human sound besides Arthur’s breathing. No children laughing, no adults talking, no indistinct sounds of human _life_.

He continued on what seemed like a path, before it was left in such poor condition. Arthur believed he could find something, _someone_, if he followed it.

He walked for days before finding any sign of human life, resting in the forest and scavenging what he could find on his way.

Then he heard noises that weren’t natural. Sounds made by humans: talking, metal on wood, people running around. He quickened his pace, hopeful to find people who he could help and that could help him understand the world he found himself in. He hid behind a bush and looked between branches and leaves to see what looked like a camp.

What he saw wasn’t what he hoped he would find.

He thought people would be happy and their lives fruitful after so much time since his death. He believed they were on the right way when he left the kingdom in the capable hands of Guinevere.

Looks like he was wrong, or something awful happened between that and his revival.

There were people in front of him, but they looked defeated and with hard lines on their faces. Children worked as hard as they could, helping their elders with everything they could. The place looked like it had been ravaged by some… catalytic disaster.

With all the new things Arthur saw since the lake (weird transportation objects, buildings higher than Camelot’s castle ever was, roads made with something like rock but much smoother and much more), he thought they would have changed a lot. But all of this looked like people in the lower town or in small villages, just scraping by.

He frowned. He didn’t understand, what had happened that such progress was lost? Those people didn’t even look like they knew what they were doing while Arthur watched: a woman was trying to sew a shirt and she looked puzzled as to how she was to do that with a needle and a thread. A child was trying to copy his older sister clumsy attempt at washing clothes in a small bucket.

It was really as if they were thrown back in time and they didn’t know what to do to survive.

Suddenly, he felt eyes on him, drilling behind his head. Letting go of the shock of what he could see, of what the world had become while he wasn’t there, he turned around and gasped.

Because behind him was an old man, an old man he knew. Which should be impossible, with him gone for centuries, but he couldn’t forget those eyes and those ears.

Merlin.

Who was as shocked as he was, seeing as he didn’t move and just had those big eyes wide open, mouth agape. And then,

‘Arthur.’

Two pairs of blue eyes shined and fat tears started to fall from older one. He came closer and each step he took, he seemed to get younger: long white hair getting shorter and darkened. Wrinkles smoothed as if they never were. Blue eyes gained a new light and joy appeared on the man mouth. He was now running and then was straight into the blond man’s arms. He enveloped him in a strong embrace, never stopping his tears. The latter brought his arms around the other without thought.

Arthur felt tears on his cheeks but did nothing to stop them. He looked down to the man in his arms and smiled. No matter what, the pain he felt for leaving him all those centuries ago wouldn’t leave so easily. But he felt it slowly ebb away. He then bent his head and kissed the crown of the black-haired man’s head and said, the ghost of a smile on his lips:  
  


“So much time has passed, and you’re still this much of a girl, Merlin?”

A wet chuckle came from the still crying man, but he left his head and smiled when he answered:

“Welcome home, prat.”

_He is the once and future king. Take heart, for when Albion’s need is greatest… Arthur will rise again._

There was no time like the present to fulfill a prophecy, wasn’t there?


End file.
